William Funnell shares his thought on how to ensure the sport – and way of life – we love remains socially acceptable
It’s been a tough year for those of us involved in equestrian sport with incidents including the footage of Charlotte Dujardin and recent fatalities at Cheltenham meaning we are being scrutinised more than ever. Social licence raises the question of whether it’s socially acceptable even to ride horses, but why should we apologise for something so natural?
If any good came out of the dressage furore, perhaps it was a wake-up call to take a hard look at our methods and ensure correct horsemanship is paramount. Good training produces happy horses who perform well and, with camera phones everywhere nowadays, the sport almost governs itself – do something wrong and you’ll be exposed.
Horses, when trained correctly – and that’s the key thing here – enjoy what they do. But it worries me that far fewer people are learning proper horsemanship and how to train a horse. A happy horse isn’t a spoiled horse – training should be fair and consistent. If you stick with the basic rules, you never need to be tough on them.
I became a horseman from role models such as John Whitaker, who I watched being soft and correct with his horses, rather than fighting them. Where are these role models for our young showjumpers when our Olympians only compete in the UK a few times a year?
Of course, some practices that were once acceptable no longer are and we have to respect that. A spur is an aid and if a horse is well trained off the leg, you’re only using it as a reminder, as is carrying a stick. Few people use a stick to tell a horse off in the ring nowadays, so perhaps individual sports need to look at its use and how best to govern it moving forwards.
The deaths at Cheltenham were unfortunate and tragic for all connections; they will have hit hard with anyone who loves horses. But, as equestrians, the message we all need to get across is just how much horses love what they are doing.
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Cheltenham’s racecourse vet was interviewed on ITV Racing soon after the fatalities happened and clearly explained what had happened as best he could without a post-mortem – that transparency was excellent as it’s a subject we tend to hide away from in our sport.
But I don’t see why we feel we have to justify our way of life – like we’ve also seen farmers do on their march to London last week. Instead of apologising, it’s vital we get the message across – why do we compete, ride or watch horses compete? Because we love them.
A welfare concern
I worked out that to compete in Spain with some of our horses this autumn, it would cost me a whopping £700 per round. But having spoken to a couple of people from British Equestrian recently, there’s hope that the real welfare issue of transporting horses across the Channel might be eased.
Matthew Sampson rang me from Calais recently to say he’d been waiting four hours for a vet check that his horses had already passed before leaving England. It’s not OK for horses to be stuck on lorries for that long because of French bureaucracy.
I’m sure there was bad feeling between the Conservatives and France in the wake of Brexit but there are indications that Labour may be able to renegotiate a better deal – a common vet check that is valid on both sides of the crossing would be a great start. But we need to keep lobbying and pushing for it.
I can reassure Matthew Sampson I’m doing my best!
Christmas countdown
Excitement is building towards the London International. With the show running in such close proximity to Christmas Day this year, the format has been adjusted so the grand prix runs on Friday, with the show concluding on Sunday afternoon with the World Cup.
It means a day off for the top horses on Saturday, which I think will improve the quality of both the feature classes, and all the foreign riders can get home afterwards – I wish they’d run it this way every year!
After the success of last year’s Brilliance auction, Shane Breen and I are going bigger and better this year, having sourced 14 top-quality horses from the UK to go under the hammer at ExCeL on Saturday.
The more we do this, the more it will become a shop window for our best young horses and we’re very excited about the direction it’s going.
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The British international showjumper is the only rider to have won the Hickstead Derby five times. A British showjumping team regular, William won team gold at the 2013 European championships on his home-bred stallion Billy Congo. He has been chef d’equipe and team trainer for UAE showjumping since November 2023. He and his wife, five-star eventer Pippa Funnell, run the successful Billy Stud in Surrey.
